NetHack Patch Database v0.27

Color Alchemy

Dipping potions into each other creates new potions depending on their colors.

The current system of alchemy based on potion type (e.g. healing + gain energy = extra healing) is changed to one based on color (e.g. sky blue + yellow = emerald). The advantage of this is that what potions you can get from alchemy change with each game, which contributes to each game's uniqueness.
This patch doesn't change bones/save file compatability.

Note a few changes from vanilla: "purple-red" has been changed to "amber" and "cyan" has been changed to "viscous".
Brown has no light/dark distinction: "brown" is both.
You could classify "milky" as White, "dark" as Black, "smoky" as Gray, "murky" as Dark Brown and re-classify "brown" as Light Brown. However, for balance reasons I want to cut down on the number of possible combinations.
Combination rules:
Primary+Primary
Red+Yellow = Orange
Red+Blue = Purple
Yellow+Blue = Green

Secondary+Secondary
Always yields Brown

In the above combinations, the light/dark level of the resulting potion will be the same as that of the input potions if they are the same, or randomly chosen if they are different. An exception to this rule is that if one input potion is diluted and the other isn't, the non-diluted potion passes its light/dark level to the resulting potion.

Love this idea and will definitely compile it into my game. Re: scwizard's comment, it's true that sometimes you will get games that make getting powerful potions really easy. But you'll also get some where it's a pain in the neck to get good ones at all. I love the variability.[Quote]

I like it a lot; I definitely take more notice of potions with the patch than I do in vanilla. It's an extra and entertaining challenge to work out what all your potion combinations for each game are.[Quote]

The only bad thing is it could make alching potions of gain level too easy if there were cheap potions of the approprate colors available. I can understand the dev team denying this because it makes some things too easy for lucky characters (and unlike regular nethack luck this would last the whole game)[Quote]